Digicel restores USSD service after encountering ‘system issue’

DIGICEL’s USSD (unstructured supplementary services data) services has been restored according to a post made by the telecommunications company on its official Facebook page yesterday.
The USSD service was off line since last week and inconveniencing customers with access to some services disrupted. Senior vice-president and chief sales officer Lorna McPherson told The National that this was because they had encountered a system issue which she did not specify.

McPherson said the company had brought in international experts to fix the problem and they had.
“We had a system issue and we engaged international experts and a technical teams who worked around the clock,” she said.
“We tried to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and we are now working to ensure that we provide the best network that our customers are used to having.”
McPherson said business customers and information and communications technology links were not affected during that time.
When The National asked about the estimated total coverage that the company had in the country, she said: “We estimate that we cover 80 per cent of the population but with the spread, 100 per cent coverage is almost impossible. For example, Papua New Guinea has 17 people per square kilometres whereas Africa has over 600 per square kilometres.”
McPherson added that Digicel currently had 1,050 telecommunications towers in the country and the company was committed to serving both rural and urban customers. The National/PNGeHow